William,
Not sure you got my reply by email yesterday, but I'll repost it here for you!
What you have there is a bottle of Buchanan's Black & White from about 1936-1939,
that was made for the Italian/Spanish market.
The bottle has a rather nice fill-level for it's age, but is in pretty rough condition and
is missing the "shoulder label"....not alot of harm to the value, but it wouldn't sell as
easily for a 'showcase' item. (***Don't clean this bottle if you haven't already - Often
part of the attraction is in the "aged look" itself, just as it is in all antique items, and
the labels at this age are very easily damaged, which would effect it's value.)
As for value, "Black & White" is not as heavily collected a brand as others brands are
(though I have about 30 bottles of this myself), as it was a moderately priced "shelf
brand" back in the 1920-1960's and not that great of a whisky in taste.... However,
I do know that there have been a few similar bottles that have sold at auction in the
past 1-2 years in the UK/Germany that have sold for about $250-$300 (Less 30% in
fees to the auction house, and shipping costs).
Fair "retail" market value on a bottle like this in the US would be about $220-$250,
and would hold the same value in the UK, Italy & Germany. (Though I do know that
there are some "high-end" shops that ask alot more for this...though they rarely sell.)
For a private sale, you should expect to get about $180-$220 for this.
I bought most of my 1930's Black & White bottles for about $125-$150, but I don't
have a single "clear" glass example in my collection at all....those were only made
around the early part of WWII, and meant for the European market. (Everyone else
got dark-green/black glass bottles.)
To a collector that collect's everything in a brand, it's a lovely bottle...maybe not the
bottle for the average collector, but it would fill in the 'gaps' quite well!
Nice find you have there...If you ever think about parting with it, please let me know!
Cheers,
Walter C Hurst
wchurst@hotmail.com